Sweet and spicy warm red wine is the perfect thing to share
and enjoy during the Holidays! Cheers!

Photograph: Tracy Hebden/Alamy

You will need:

1 750 ml bottle inexpensive red wine

1 orange, zested and juiced

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup sugar

8-10 whole cloves

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Brandy (optional)

Cinnamon sticks for garnish

Prep time 10 minutes, serve 2-4.

With a peeler or sharp knife, remove zest from orange in one large piece (or a few large pieces), no bitter white pith should remain. Squeeze the juice of the orange into a medium-sized sauce pan and add the orange peel.

Add sugar, honey, cloves and powdered spices to the pan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer while stirring until mixture starts to thicken and reaches a syrup-like stage.

Slowly stir in wine and heat liquid over a low flame until hot, but do not bring to a simmer. Do not overheat (or the alcohol will burn off), just warm the liquid until it’s steaming and toasty enough to drink.

Strain and serve in glass mugs with a cinnamon stick and a float of brandy, if you like that sort of thing. Enjoy!

Thanks to Joy the Baker for this recipe, pancakes have never made my kitchen smell so good!

I used ground ginger instead of allspice, rum extract instead of vanilla extract, and I was out of buttermilk and baking powder so I had to make substitutes:

To make buttermilk: Add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (or white vinegar) to a glass measuring cup then add enough milk to make 1 cup. Let it rest for five minutes before use. Double these amounts to make 2 cups of buttermilk.

To make baking powder: Mix 1 teaspoon baking soda with 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, then measure out the amount of baking powder you need.

For this recipe you will need:

6 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of ground ginger

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoons rum extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

You will also need butter for cooking and real maple syrup for serving.

1. Melt butter until browned, then remove from heat and stir in spices.

I made myself an early Christmas present! I bought the red yarn at my local shop and a fellow knitter on Ravelry had the dark green in her stash (thank you!). I love the colors together and this yarn makes a beautiful, lightweight fabric – rustic and festive. Perfection!

I recommend baking these in small batches as they are best when served fresh.
Preparation time includes at least one hour of chilling.

This is one of the best sugar cookie recipes I’ve ever tried. You can leave out the lavender or you can substitute the same amount of any tasty edible flower or herb you like. These are great no-rise cookies that are perfect for cookie cutters, too!